Senator Gary Stubblefield and Representative John Catlett: Request for legislative relief for school districts in fiscal distress.

When a school district experiences a decrease in funding due to sharp drop in enrollment that is the result of a shifting migrant population and/or shifting economic conditions of an economy based on oil, gas, timber, or other volatile commodity; the loss of a major industry; or a sharp decline in property assessment, that school district should be granted relief from the two-year deadline for remedying its declining balance by, in conjunction with the State Department of Education, devising a workable plan for remedying its fiscal distress status with an extended deadline.

Please write a bill that would provide legislative relief in certain circumstances under Arkansas' laws for school districts in fiscal distress. That is, when a school district experiences a decrease in funding due to a sharp drop in enrollment that is the result of a shifting migrant population and/or shifting economic conditions of an economy based on oil, gas, timber, or other volatile commodity, the loss of a major industry, or a sharp decline in property assessment, that school district should be granted relief from the two-year deadline for remedying its declining balance by, in conjuction with the State Department of Education, devising a workable plan for remedying its fiscal distress status within an extended deadline.